LYKKE LI: YOUTH = TRUTH

*God, this one was hard work. I interviewed Lykke Li in the bar of a Leeson Street hotel. She’d just arrived in from London, was hungover, monosyllabic, complaining about how some bloke had kept trying to touch her hair the night before, and was generally monstrously grumpy.  Just as well that her album (and live show) was brilliant. Her second record is due “soon”, apparently.

Originally published in Hot Press, July 2008

LI LYKKE Zachrisson – that’s Lykke Li to you and I, if you please – wearily removes her oversized sunglasses, shakes my hand with a thin smile and politely orders a cappuccino from the waitress. If I didn’t know any better, I’d wonder if I’d somehow manage to somehow inadvertently offend the 22-year-old Swedish popstrel – but it soon becomes clear that Ms. Zachrisson, fresh off a delayed flight from a flurry of UK dates, is just tired. Very tired.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND: SO LONG, SUCKERS

Originally published in Hot Press, July 2008

IT’S LATE afternoon, and Vampire Weekend have just finished soundchecking for their highly-anticipated set at Brighton’s Great Escape festival. Subsequently drained by the stifling venue’s under-active air conditioning system, the band wearily recline on the battered sofas of their dressing room – the idea of yet another enthusiastic journalist demanding yet another interview evidently unappealing.